C/1965 S1The Great Comet of 1965 — visible in broad daylight next to the Sun
Comet Ikeya-Seki
Comet Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1) was a brilliant Kreutz sungrazer that became one of the brightest comets of the past millennium. At perihelion on October 21, 1965, it skimmed just ~466,000 km above the Sun's surface, briefly blazing to about magnitude -10 — bright enough to be seen in daylight beside the Sun — before its nucleus split into pieces. In the following days it unfurled a spectacular tail stretching across the dawn sky, making it the most famous Great Comet of the 20th century.
- Designation
- C/1965 S1
- Type
- Sungrazer
- Orbital period
- ~880 years (Long-period Kreutz sungrazer)
- Discovery
- Independently by Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki (Japanese amateur astronomers), September 18, 1965
